


Let's Fade Together

by shinodabear



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-10
Updated: 2011-07-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinodabear/pseuds/shinodabear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reichenbach!ficlet wherein Moriarty and Holmes have fallen, and then go out to jump off a cliff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Fade Together

It was an hour past dawn, an hour past when Jim needed to leave. Despite the pressing immediacy of his departure, he lingered in the doorway, eyes fixed on the still form on the bed. This weakness of his wouldn’t do, not if he were to go on. Not that he planned on going on for much longer.

He’d let so much go already, retaining only a single thread of his vast network. Some he cut himself, threw to the dogs and watched Sherlock take away. Some Sherlock got to first, tearing them from Moriarty without his consent. There were those, of course, who dropped out of their own accord, frightened of being caught. They were dealt with, one way or another. By the time Sherlock tracked him to the airport, there were only two players left on Moriarty’s side. Now that singular colonel was doubling back on him, looping the last of the syndicate’s threads around his neck and waiting to knock out his feet from under him. Jim never liked the sensation of strangulation; it was too much like drowning.

He squared his shoulders, and turned to leave.

“So you’re going to leave me? Just like that?”

Sherlock’s hail was meant to give Jim pause. It was meant to distract him, to get him to turn around and change plan. There was some shred of manners in him, however, that couldn’t leave Sherlock’s question unanswered. Without turning back, Jim replied. “You’re better off without me.”

“I’m bored without you.”

Sherlock always had to do this, always had to act the passive-aggressive child, make Jim do things he never normally would. Going back on his decision, Jim stepped back, still facing the door. “You’re alive without me, dear,” he whispered, already anticipating Sherlock’s reply.

“Living is boring.”

Jim closed his eyes. He shifted the plans he’d drawn up in his mind, accounting for Moran’s speed. It did not place him in a good position. Reluctantly, he turned around. “You’re not coming with me.”

“Of course I am.” To prove it, Sherlock threw back the covers and sat up. He was fully dressed, outerwear and all. “You didn’t think I wouldn’t have anticipated you sneaking out like a coward, did you?”

“It’s not cowardice.” Jim adjusted the plans to account for Sherlock’s presence. There was a slightly better chance of a decent outcome, but also far more of a chance of a less than desirable one. He didn’t like the odds.

“It’s stupidity. I’m coming with you.”

“All possible outcomes end in death.”

“I know,” Sherlock said, rising from the bed. “We know when Moran landed. Accounting for car travel, later by travel on foot in the less hospitable regions of the Alps, we have two choices: death in an open field by bullet or death on a cliff by a waterfall. I’d think you choose the more glamorous option, so I’d suggest changing your shoes. We’ve a bit of a climb ahead of us.”

“You’ve studied the maps?”

“Of course I have.”

"Of course you have.” Jim frowned, watching Sherlock pull on his gloves. “Has it ever occurred to you that I may intend to push you off as soon as we get there?”

“Has it occurred to you that I have anticipated this and may intend to push you off first?”

It didn’t matter if either or both of them were bluffing. Once again, Moran had been pushed aside for a greater, more interesting game. A grin, free of worry, stretched across Jim's face. “I’ll race you.”

“No,” Sherlock insisted. “We’ll go together.”


End file.
